By Chris Spangler
The Dodge County Board of Supervisors has selected Whitewater City Manager Cameron Clapper as its next county administrator.
During their meeting Tuesday evening, 28 of the 31 supervisors in attendance voted to hire Clapper to succeed Jim Mielke, who retired on June 1.
Supervisor David Guckenberger made the hiring motion, which was seconded by Supervisor Kira Sheahan-Malloy. Voting “no” were Supervisors Michael Butler, Jeff Breselow and Daniel Siegmann.
Two other supervisors were absent from the meeting.
Prior to the vote, Breselow questioned the proposed compensation plan.
According to a resolution provided in the board’s meeting packet, Clapper was appointed to the full-time, benefited position of county administrator, effective August 21, at Step 1 of Labor Grade AA of the Dodge County Wage Schedule, at a beginning annual salary equivalent to $67.88 per hour, and, in addition, the same fringe benefits that are provided to department heads of the county to be administered in accordance with the ordinances, resolutions and policies of the county, including a beginning Paid Time Off Accrual Rate of .103 per hour, accrued and used in accordance with Dodge County’s Paid Time Off Policy.
Clapper’s employment agreement runs from Aug. 22, 2022, until Aug. 21, 2025, with a clause allowing for the automatic renewal of an additional year.
Said Breselow: “We’re offering this position, this money, as if he’s been with us for how long already? I think this is a bad precedent to set, to start out at the top wages with a new employee.
“I mean, we’ve not even proven what we’re paying for at this point.”
Board Chairperson Dave Frohling responded that this is at Step One, rather than the top, of the salary scale. He said he believes it is the same as what Mielke was paid.
“So our past administrator that was with us 16 years was at Level One?” Breselow asked.
Frohling said that following a wage study, he was placed at Step One of a new pay grade.
Breselow also questioned the vacation time.
“I also think it’s a tough sell to the rest of our county employees to start someone off at three weeks of vacation, when they have to work 10 years to get that,” he said. “We’re talking about employee morale in the county and how to keep and retain employees. It doesn’t sit well with me.”
Also speaking was Supervisor Robert Boelk Jr., who noted that this was a contract negotiated according to parameters set by the board.
“I think this is as good as we’re going to get at this point, and I hate to start over from Square One for the fact that we’ve already decided on the county administrator,” he said.
“Nothing’s fair all the time in life and a lot of people want to get 100 percent of what they want to get,” Boelk added. “But at the end of the day, when you are negotiating kind of a high salary compensation package, this is probably the fairest deal we’re going to come up with.”
Frohling previously had announced in a press release that the board’s Executive Committee nominated Clapper to serve as Dodge County administrator.
He said the county’s Executive Committee had been leading the administrator search, which began in March. It selected Clapper from a field of 17 applicants for the position.
Clapper and three other finalists participated in an assessment process on June 6 and 7 in Juneau, with Clapper nominated for the post by the Executive Committee, Frohling said.
Clapper has served as Whitewater city manager since 2012. He was Whitewater’s assistant to the city manager from 2010-12.
In addition, Clapper was employed as a management/analyst/deputy clerk in the Village of Waunakee from 2005-10 and then as assistant to the village administrator.
He earned both a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and a master’s degree in public administration from Brigham Young University.
Clapper is slated to begin work in Dodge County on Aug. 21, according to Frohling.
During a Whitewater Common Council meeting also held Tuesday, Clapper told those in attendance that his last day as city manager would be Aug. 12.
Cameron Clapper
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